Dubai DED launches more smart initiatives

The fast-track transformation of Dubai as the smartest city of the world received a major thrust on Tuesday with the launch of two milestone initiatives that would dramatically enhance the ease and competitiveness of doing business in the emirate.

Sami Al Qamzi speaking at the Dubai Smart Government Programme in Dubai on Tuesday. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar

In line with the Smart Dubai initiative, government authorities announced at a Press briefing the launch of the electronic “Memorandum of Association” for partnership companies along with the innovative “120-day hassle-free licence.” The bold steps, initiated by the Department of Economic Development, or DED, in partnership with other government authorities, are widely expected ensure smoother and swifter procedures for new and existing businesses.

The Smart Dubai initiative aims to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world through 100 targeted initiatives and 1,000 smart services, which will improve quality of living in Dubai.

In the presence of the heads of various federal and local government agencies, the DED also announced that a comprehensive guidebook on starting business in Dubai will be made available on its website — www.dubaided.gov.ae — and a smart application called “Business in Dubai”. Sami Al Qamzi, director-General of the DED, said with the electronic Memorandum of Association, one of the partners can register online and enter all details of other partners following which the system will contact each partner with a brief description of the licence. “Once all partners confirm their application electronically the system will ask each of them to use their ‘My ID’ username and password to log in to their respective account to approve the Memorandum of Association. The Ejari number should be entered to generate the payment voucher and the licence will appear on the smart phone as soon as the payment is completed,” he explained.

The 120-day hassle-free licence allows a businessman to start his business immediately and complete the rest of the licencing requirements, such as approvals from other government authorities concerned, within the next 120 days. The DED will issue the licence depending on the risk factors of the intended business activity. Government authorities are entitled to ensure full compliance of the licence-holder to the licence criteria on day 121. Business activities in Dubai have been categorised as “No-Risk”, “Low Risk” and “High-Risk” for the sake of evaluating the risk component.

Since more than 90 per cent of the businesses in Dubai are No-Risk or Low-Risk, a vast majority of businesses stand to benefit from the 120-day licence. For High-Risk business activities constituting the remaining 10 per cent — restaurants and clinics — all standards set by the government authorities concerned have to be fully met before the DED issues the licence.

Al Qamzi said going smart fits with the DED strategy of supporting businesses to be sustainable and competitive. “We are progressively bringing our service delivery on to a smart platform and have already launched smart applications such as Sallety, which is the first of its kind in the region. Such initiatives also show that the private and public sectors can work together and align their strategies to ensure competitiveness and added value to customers.”

Tarish Al Mansoori, director-general of Dubai Courts, said the new initiatives prove that government authorities can create successful synergies to enhance customer convenience and achieve the vision of the leadership.

Abdullah Nasser Lootah, secretary-general of the Emirates Competitiveness Council, stressed the role played by the UAE in enhancing competitiveness and the ongoing efforts to enhance the country’s rankings in global competitiveness indices.

“The Doing Business Report of the World Bank measures the performance of each country in key areas such as number of procedures, cost and time taken to set up businesses. Any efforts to improve such performance will reflect positively on service quality and customer satisfaction, besides enhancing confidence in the country worldwide,” said Lootah.

Mohammed Shael Al Saadi, chief executive officer of the Business Registration and Licencing sector in the DED, said that investors in Dubai would be able to focus more on their core business activity with the new initiatives being launched.

“We are committed to integrating state-of-the-art technology to improve customer experience and competitiveness levels as envisioned by our leadership. Dubai Smart Government has provided us with a framework to develop best-in-class service standards,” said Al Saadi.

Smart Dubai initiative will focus on six areas — smart economy, smart living, smart transportation, smart governance, smart environment and smart generation — largely based on three main themes, which are communication,iIntegrity and cooperation.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com